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Association of CD20 levels with clinicopathological parameters and its prognostic significance for patients with DLBCL

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Abstract

Diffuse large B-cell lymphomas (DLBCL) express CD20. CD20 expression is described as negative, weak, or normal as determined by flow cytometry (FCM) and is an important target for the treatment of DLBCL. However, the impact of CD20 levels at onset of the disease on patient prognosis has not been fully elucidated. We analyzed 174 DLBCL cases newly diagnosed between January 1998 and April 2010. The relationship of the association between CD20 levels and patients’ backgrounds and prognoses was analyzed using the Kaplan–Meier method and Cox proportional hazard regression. Of the 174 patients, three cases (1.7%) were defined as CD20 negative based on immunohistochemistry (IHC). Although the other 171 cases were positive by IHC, eight cases (4.7%) were defined as negative and 33 cases (19.3%) were defined as weak when analyzed by FCM. Of the 105 patients who received rituximab plus cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisolone therapy, those who were CD20 negative (FCM) showed significantly inferior overall (hazard ratios (HR): 6.79, 95% CI: 1.32–34.96, p = 0.04) and progression-free survival (HR: 7.3, 95% CI: 1.49–35.8, p = 0.04) compared to patients who were CD20 normal. Our findings indicate that the CD20 level (FCM) at onset is an independent predictor of the prognosis of patients with DLBCL.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank our colleagues, especially Ms. Tsuruta for IHC and DVM Taira for collecting FCM data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Hematology, Kitasato University School of Medicine, 1-15-1 Kitasato, Minami-ku, Sagamihara, 252-0374, Japan

    Yuhko Suzuki, Tomiteru Togano, Koji Miyazaki & Ryouichi Horie

  2. Department of Pathology, Kitasato University School of Medicine, Sagamihara, Japan

    Tsutomu Yoshida & Keiichi Iwabuchi

  3. Kitasato Clinical Research Center, Kitasato University School of Medicine, Sagamihara, Japan

    Guoqin Wang

  4. Department of Otolaryngology, Kitasato University School of Medicine, Sagamihara, Japan

    Shunsuke Miyamoto & Meijin Nakayama

  5. Department of Hematology, Comprehensive Cancer Center, International Medical Center, Saitama Medical University, Hidaka, Japan

    Nozomi Niitsu

  6. Department of Molecular Diagnostics, Kitasato University School of Allied Health Science, Sagamihara, Japan

    Yuichi Sato

  7. Department of Pathology, Tokai University,School of Medicine, Isehara, Japan

    Naoya Nakamura

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  1. Yuhko Suzuki
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Correspondence to Yuhko Suzuki.

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Suzuki, Y., Yoshida, T., Wang, G. et al. Association of CD20 levels with clinicopathological parameters and its prognostic significance for patients with DLBCL. Ann Hematol 91, 997–1005 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00277-012-1407-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00277-012-1407-4

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